27 different drivers led the Talladega Cup race, nearly toppling NASCAR record

If just two more drivers had spent a single lap out in front of the field, Sunday's 500-mile NASCAR Cup race at Talladega would have matched the record for different race leaders in a single race. This is the first time since the era of the tandem draft NASCAR has seen these kinds of numbers.

The 2010 Aaron's 499 at Talladega holds the record with 29 different race leaders, followed by the 2008 AMP Energy 500 at Talladega at 28, and this past weekend's Yellawood 500 at Talladega now sits third overall with 27.

77 lead changes on Sunday also places it fourth all-time on that list, which is the most for any race so far during the Next Gen era. The previous record for this car was 72, which came in the spring race at Talladega last year.

Sunday's 193-lap race (five laps beyond the scheduled distance due to overtime) included 40 starters, and of the drivers who actually completed every lap, only six of them failed to take a turn out front. The highest finishing drivers from that group of non-leaders were Cole Custer in fifth, Carson Hocevar in sixth, and Christopher Bell in eighth.

Joey Logano led the most laps at 35, followed by Josh Berry at 27, and Kyle Busch at 26. None of those drivers managed to finish inside the top 15, but race winner Chase Briscoe led 16 laps en route to capturing the checkered flag.

Pole-sitter Michael McDowell led just five laps in total.

Below is a full list of lap leaders from Sunday's action-packed NASCAR Cup race, and additional details on the 13 drivers who failed to join the lap leaders club on Sunday.

Complete list of lap leaders for 2025 Yellawood 500 at Talladega

Driver

Finishing Position

Laps Led

Joey Logano

16th

Josh Berry

33rd

Kyle Busch

19th

Chase Briscoe

Todd Gilliland

John Hunter Nemechek

14th

Brad Keselowski

10th

Kyle Larson

26th

Bubba Wallace

Michael McDowell

17th

Cody Ware

31st

Ty Gibbs

William Byron

25th

Chris Buescher

30th

Tyler Reddick

Ross Chastain

13th

Ryan Blaney

23rd

Denny Hamlin

24th

Zane Smith

Daniel Suarez

12th

Ty Dillon

20th

Anthony Alfredo

21st

Austin Cindric

34th

Noah Gragson

36th

Ryan Preece

15th

Riley Herbst

32nd

AJ Allmendinger

34th

Drivers who failed to led a single lap and finishing position: Custer (5th), Hocevar (6th), Bell (8th), Shane van Gisbergen (11th), Casey Mears (18th), Austin Hill (22nd), Austin Dillon (27th), BJ McLeod (28th), Alex Bowman (29th), Erik Jones (35th), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (38th), Justin Haley (39th), Chase Elliott (40th).

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team